The judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial in New York denied two requests on May 9, a second bid for a mistrial and another to narrow a gag order in the ongoing case.
On Thursday afternoon, New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan denied a motion for a mistrial, the second such request this week, and he also rejected a request to narrow a gag order preventing President Trump from making public statements defending himself from allegations made by witness Stephanie Clifford, also known by her stage name Stormy Daniels, during her testimony on Tuesday and Thursday.
“The press reporting over the past 24 hours about the current version of the story that we believe is completely false,” he added. “It is significant.”
Prosecutor Christopher Conroy argued that that the gag order shouldn’t be modified because it could have a chilling effect on witnesses.
Mr. Blanche contended that the gag order was no longer justified because Ms. Clifford had concluded her courtroom testimony and was no longer a witness in the trial.
The gag order limits President Trump’s remarks about witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff, and the family of Judge Merchan. It does not prohibit the former president from making critical remarks about the judge or about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
In denying president Trump’s request to modify the gag order so he could respond to Ms. Clifford’s remarks from the stand, Judge Merchan said it was to protect the witness from potentially vitriolic remarks that the former president might make about her.
Ms. Clifford has alleged an affair with the former president, which he has denied.
President Trump, who has pleaded not guilty in the case, has claimed the trial is a politically motivated attempt to undermine his 2024 presidential campaign.
More Details
In the case, Mr. Bragg has accused President Trump of 34 counts of falsifying business records in order to conceal “hush money” payments in 2016 to Ms. Clifford so she wouldn’t go public of allegations of an affair she says occurred a decade prior.Prosecutors have alleged that the nondisclosure payments were falsified and amount to election interference during President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign because they were made to prevent potentially damaging news coverage about the alleged tryst that could have undermined the campaign.
President Trump’s attorneys have said that there was nothing illegal about the payments.
In court on Thursday, Trump attorney Susan Necheles suggested that Ms. Clifford, who worked as an adult performer, was trying to cash in on her notoriety.
The attorney tried to get Ms. Clifford to admit on the stand that her allegations about an encounter with the former president were made up, asking her about details that she'd previously mentioned in other interviews.
“Your story has completely changed, hasn’t it?” Ms. Necheles asked at one point.
“No, not at all. You’re trying to make me say it’s changed but it hasn’t,” Ms. Clifford replied.
The former president has denied Ms. Clifford’s claims and has pleaded not guilty to the business records falsification charges.
‘Great Honor’
Judge Merchan first imposed the gag order on President Trump on March 26, then expanded it on April 1 to prohibit the former president from making comments about the judge’s and the district attorney’s family members.The gag order came after President Trump accused Judge Merchan of bias and corruption and later alleged that his daughter, Loren Merchan, has a partisan interest in the case because she leads a political marketing firm that has represented President Trump’s political opponents, receiving millions from them.
President Trump said it would be a “great honor” to be jailed for violating the gag order.
As the former president’s trial kicked off, the Manhattan DA’s office leveled accusations that President Trump violated his gag order at least 10 times in social media posts.
Jack Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
